Sports

COLOMBO: World cricket’s governing body on Monday banned former Sri Lanka fast bowler Dilhara Lokuhettige for eight years for corruption. The 40-year-old, who played nine One-day Inter­nationals and two Twenty20 Internationals for Sri Lanka between 2005 and 2013, joins a growing list of Sri Lankan players to have been punished by the ICC. The ICC found Lokuhettige guilty on three …

CHENNAI: South African batsman A.B. de Villiers said he is open to a return to international cricket at this year’s Twenty20 World Cup in India and will discuss his future with national coach Mark Boucher during the Indian Premier League (IPL). The 37-year-old retired from international cricket in 2018 but said in April last year he would consider a comeback …

LAHORE: Pakistan’s bowling coach Waqar Younis will not be available for Pakistan’s upcoming T20 and Test series in Zimbabwe, starting from April 21, due to the surgery of his wife in Australia, scheduled after the month of Ramazan. According to a Pakistan Cricket Board spokesman, as Waqar has to spend a 14-day quarantine period before entering Australia, he is leaving …

KARACHI: Team Karachi’s brilliant performance propelled them to title win in the SSB Stability Pakistan Sindh Karate Championship here on Friday. Sanghar and Larkana got second and third positions respectively. The two-day event was held at the Humbo Gymnasium Hall, Kakri Ground in Lyari where players from Hyderabad, Larkana, Sukkur, Benazirabad, Mirpur Khas, Karachi Green, Karachi White, Sanghar, Nowshera Feroz, …

DOHA: Qatar is in talks with coronavirus vaccine makers to ensure all fans attending the 2022 World Cup in the country have been vaccinated, the foreign minister said on Friday. The Gulf nation is facing a resurgence of virus cases and deaths despite progress in its mass vaccination programme, forcing authorities to impose a nationwide lockdown. “We have been negotiating …

LONDON: West Ham United’s top-four hopes were dealt a big blow as Joe Willock’s late header earned Newcastle United a 3-2 home win in a see-saw clash on Saturday — a result that put the hosts within sight of Premier League safety. The London club capitulated in the first half with an Issa Diop own goal and a Lukasz Fabianski …

KARACHI: Batting coach Younis Khan on Saturday said that despite their struggles on the South Africa tour, both Haider Ali and Asif Ali should get more opportunities but admitted they should not expect undue favour from the selectors as Pakistan completed a grand double by winning both the ODI and Twenty20 International series against the Proteas. Addressing a virtual media …

PORTIMAO: Six-time MotoGP champion Marc Marquez made a remarkable comeback Friday in his first competitive ride since crashing nine months ago when he was third fastest in the opening free practice for the Portuguese Grand Prix. “Difficult to find a single word to describe the first training session, but I felt a lot of HAPPINESS!!” Marquez wrote in Spanish on …

LONDON: England all-rounder Ben Stokes will be sidelined for up to 12 weeks after fracturing a finger while on Indian Premier League duty, cricket chiefs announced on Friday. “England all-rounder Ben Stokes will be out for up to 12 weeks after a repeat X-ray and CT scan on Thursday revealed that he has a fracture of his left index finger,” …

LAHORE: In the third phase of the restructuring of the domestic set-up, the Pak­istan Cricket Board (PCB) is starting the process of appointing head coaches of 90 city associations from Sat­u­rday through advertisement. After keeping shut the domestic structure for the last 18 months for apparently no solid reason, the PCB in the first phase formed the First Board of …